Fathers and Sons
by Voyager Tip
Summary: This story takes place after Convergence and explores the relationship between fathers and sons. Jeffrey and Phineas have many experiences in the field and at headquarters.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Several other authors on this site have given me suggestions on how to improve my writing. Some are: adding more POVs, giving more detail to my characters (since I want to focus so much on the relationship between Bogg and Jeff, I tend to ignore the other characters) and explaining the action better. Probably the most important critisism I've gotten is that I'm not always historically accurate, (not that I want to be inaccurate, but I just love to write about the relationship, and haven't always done research). In this story I have done research (you will learn what a Litster is, if you don't know), and I have also tried to incorporate the other suggestions. It's funny how one thing leads to another, because the final story is not what I originally intended, but it grew out of the experience of crafting it. My original story is embedded within this longer story. Actually, there are several threads that intertwine throughout the story. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!_

**Fathers and Sons**

Jeffrey opened his eyes sleepily and stared out into the room. Phineas was at the stove, cooking something that smelled good. He didn't exactly cook like his Mom, and Jeff sometimes missed his mother's cooking, but what Bogg made was usually good. Amazing really when you thought about where they often were and what they sometimes had to work with. The few times it wasn't very good, Jeff had complained and as he lay still watching his friend at the stove, he felt guilty for that. Now that he thought about it, even his dad hadn't cooked very well at all the few times he had cooked for him and Bogg's food was good most of the time.

When his thoughts strayed to his dad, he could see a clear picture of his father throwing him a baseball. They had spent hours throwing the ball back and forth in the back yard. He remembered when he was very young, they stood only a few feet apart. Then, as Jeffrey got older and improved, the balls came faster and he had to sometimes run for them. He'd often thought that his father had thrown them badly on purpose, and he wondered why. Every time he'd had to run backwards to catch one he'd been a little angry and thrown it back with terrible force, just to prove he could do it. His father had seemed to enjoy catching those throws more than the others and always encouraged him to put the ball where he intended it to go, no matter how excited or angry he was. He smiled as he thought about the last time they had played catch together and suddenly got choked up. It was a good memory, but it still hurt. He forced himself to think about where he was and that he didn't want Bogg to know he was thinking about his parents. Bogg was his father now. He'd felt it for a long time, but after the last Convergence they had made it official. And after all, it was Bogg that was making him supper, just like his mom used to do. It was funny to compare Bogg to his mom, but Bogg really did do the same kinds of things for him that both his parents had done.

He stretched and sat up, "hey," he said to get Bogg's attention.

"Feel better?"

"Yeah, I was just tired," Jeff explained.

"No kidding," Bogg paused, "supper's almost ready, we're staying here tonight, just so you know."

Jeff had been exhausted after their last assignment and had literally fallen asleep against Phineas' shoulder when they finally had a chance to sit down on this couch three hours ago. Jeff vaguely remembered Bogg easing him down onto the couch and lifting his legs up before he covered him with the jacket he'd been wearing on this mission. All of that was blurred in with his dreams, but even though he didn't remember all the specifics, he had a crystal clear memory of being taken care of, and that felt very good.

He stood up and walked over to Bogg and gave him a quick hug as he looked at the stove, "it smells good."

Phineas returned the hug in surprise, "what was that for?"

"Nothing," Jeff shrugged, "just felt like it."


	2. The Other Voyager

Chapter 2 The Other Voyager

Voyager John Walker set down his tray beside Rachel Walsh in the large lunchroom at Voyager Headquarters.

"Hey John," she greeted him, surprised by her visceral reaction upon seeing him again. Her stomach was doing somersaults.

"Great to see ya Rachel, how's R&D going?" John asked.

"Okay," Rachel answered and blushed. How had he remembered that she worked in Research? She bit into a french fry as she realized he was still one of the most handsome men she had ever met. They had known each other at the Academy and he was still tall, dark and handsome, just like she remembered him from school. She was glad he couldn't see her heart beating because she knew it would be fast. The only other man who'd ever affected her this way was Phineas Bogg and she smiled as she thought of him. She had never actually been friends with either of them, they had been in different years at the academy, and she had always been very shy.

She cast around for something to say to calm her nerves. "So what have you been up to since graduation?" she asked, thinking that it might be a way to start a conversation.

He sighed, "well, I've almost got enough credits to become a teacher at the academy."

"But that's not possible," Rachel said before she could stop herself. She hoped she wasn't annoying him with this information, but it was true, "you have to have at least 10 years of field work experience in order to start that course work," she continued. One of her close friends was going through the course work right now and had to have 12 years before she was allowed to start. The kind of situations successfully handled in the field were taken into consideration when you applied to the teacher program and some voyagers needed more time to amass those experiences than others.

John smiled, "I've been taking a lot of special assignments and I almost have all the experiences."

"How do you get special assignments?" Olivia asked him interestedly. Not only was it a good way to keep the conversation going, but she was curious. She had never heard of anyone being able to get special assignments to suit their own agenda before.

John smiled, "I've had a lot of opportunities," he answered vaguely. "The only thing I need now is experience with children, and the more the better. I've hardly dealt with kids at all."

Rachel's smile faded after his vague answer. Something seemed fishy, but she smiled at him, and tried to think of something else that might interest him, her heart pounding. It really was stupid, a grown woman being so effected by his presence, but she couldn't deny that his effect on her was real. He still seemed as nice as she remembered too, even though his vague answer raised a tiny red flag in her brain. She cast around for something to say, and finally she knew what he might be interested in.

"Remember at the last Convergence, when Phineas Bogg adopted that 12 year old kid? I've heard that he's voyaging with him."

John froze, his french fry halfway to his mouth, then he smiled. "You're kidding me," he said seriously.

"It's true, I just spent a few days with Olivia Dunne and we got a chance to catch up. She ran into them on the Titanic."

John's mind was in overdrive, this was a perfect opportunity to get his hours finished. "That's great," he said. "So all I have to do is get my hands on a Voyager Locator, and find Phineas," and he smiled at her with a warm smile that made her stomach flip over.

Rachel smiled back, "I don't think it'll be that easy," she said, hating to give him bad news.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, don't you have to have those experiences alone?" John nodded and Rachel continued, "well, based on what Olivia told me, Phineas won't let that kid out of his sight."

John paused, "all I want is to borrow him for a few voyages, I'll give him back. I'm sure I can convince him."

Rachel looked uncertain, "the story Olivia told me was that the Mona Lisa was on the Titanic when it was about to sink and they had to rescue it, but the kid was sick and Phineas refused to leave until he was treated."

"Why couldn't he have saved the painting and then gone back to the kid," John said.

"He told Olivia he just couldn't take the chance of being detoured during transit, so he refused to even take her back and drop her off."

"That's hard to believe."

"The way Olivia told it, he didn't even pause to make the decision, leaving wasn't even an option. And then he sat up all night watching the kid sleep because they weren't sure the treatment would work. Olivia couldn't believe it. Phineas is different now John, and I wouldn't talk about borrowing that kid, like he was an object, if I were you."

John stared at her and took a deep breath. "Well, maybe I could just convince the kid to voyage with me."

"I don't know," she said uncertainly

"I can be pretty persuasive when I wanna be," John said with a chuckle.

"Olivia told me that she was with the kid when he was really sick, that he didn't even know where he was, but he just kept asking for Bogg, it doesn't sound to me like he'll just up and leave him. Olivia couldn't stop talking about it."

John paused again, "well," he said finally, "I'll just have to think of a way to get some experience alone with the kid, that's all." He paused, "I just need some more information," he said thoughtfully. The silence that followed stretched on until Rachel felt a bit uncomfortable. John was looking down at his plate, an expression of concentration on his face. Finally he spoke, "wasn't the kid here when Drake had Phineas on trial?" he asked.

"I think so, those proceedings were confidential though."

"Who was there, he had to have an attorney," John pressed.

"Susan was his attorney. She found evidence that Drake was tampering with the omni memory recorder, he's a wanted man now."

"So Susan must've had pretty close contact with them, eh?"

Rachel nodded, her heart sinking as she imagined John and Susan together. It was suddenly obvious to her that he would soon be spending time with Susan, trying to extract any information he could about Phineas and the boy. She would not be seeing him again during this break from voyaging. She tried to hide her disappointment. She glanced up at the large mirror that hung along the entire wall of the lunchroom, and suddenly realized once again, that she would never be the prettiest girl in any room. She had inherited her father's long nose and her mother's average features. She had also inherited their shyness. As a Field Worker she had forced herself to approach anyone and do whatever was necessary to set history right, but she'd never felt comfortable in that role. As soon as she had the required 4 years in the field, she had transferred to R&D. She loved her job now that she wasn't required to interact with so many different people during her workday. The research that she did was a perfect fit to how her brain worked. Rachel sighed, realizing that she'd always known she was much too plain and shy and analytical to ever converse easily with John or Phineas, they were just too handsome and outgoing and so different from her. And now that Susan was in the picture, there was just no way she could compete, Susan was beautiful, and also nice. It just didn't seem fair.

Suddenly John pushed back his chair and stood up. "Thanks a lot for the information Rachel," he said lifting his lunch tray.

"Will I see you later?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure, I'll be around, did you happen to get what the kid's name is?"

"It's Jeffrey," she said, her heart sinking again as he turned to walk away.

"Jeffrey, huh? Thanks." John Walker smiled as he walked out of the lunchroom. He headed for the Administration Area, sure that Susan's office would be there. He was already formulating a plan. He was sure he'd have his hours soon, and be allowed to start his teaching courses. He had never liked voyaging and couldn't wait to get out of field work.

Rachel watched him walk away and felt a pang of something like guilt. Maybe she shouldn't have told him about Phineas and Jeffrey. She knew how she would feel if someone gave out information about Steven to a complete stranger, she'd see it as a threat, and Steven wasn't even involved with voyaging. It occurred to her that Phineas Bogg wouldn't think very much of her giving out that information about Jeffrey either. Well, it was unlikely that John Walker could get his hands on a Voyager Locator anyway, but still, if John could manipulate his assignments, maybe he could get a Locator too. She hoped not.


	3. Preparedness

Chapter 3 Preparedness

"So where are we?" Phineas Bogg asked Jeffrey Jones as they walked along the curved dirt path. Jeff stopped and opened the omni, "Strasbourg, Europe, Holy Roman Empire 1447 AD, red light," he said, then closed the device. Bogg was letting him carry it more often now, and he was proud of it. He clamped it back on his belt. It was a bit heavy and bulky, but he would never complain about that, Bogg might take it back if he did.

Phineas watched him and smiled to himself, he was proud of Jeff's motivation to excel at voyaging. He was as dedicated to upholding the Code as any voyager. Phineas had been teaching him a variety of things as they traveled together. He had chosen the topics purposefully and given careful thought to when he should introduce each one, and how Jeff would learn them best. Currently, though Jeff didn't know it yet, he was teaching him the concept of Preparedness, a topic reserved for the end of Academy Training, yet close to the hearts of all voyagers. He would continue with this as soon as he was sure there was no immediate danger.

"Do you have any idea what's supposed to happen here?" Phineas asked.

Jeff shook his head, "nope," he replied as they continued to walk through the trees until they reached the rim of a gorge. They heard the sound of the rushing water first, but even so, both were struck by the size and power of the waterfall. Jeff watched a leaf slide along the surface of the fast moving river and fall 30 feet with the turbulent water, until he lost track of it.

Phineas looked out across the misty air to the other side, about 20 feet away. Then, glancing at Jeff and following his gaze, he watched the water land on the rocks below, spattering and spilling out in all directions before it continued down the gorge as it passed beside the nearby town. He smiled at this opportunity, here was a good lead in to one of the Preparedness topics he'd planned to cover with Jeffrey.

They stood watching for several minutes, until Bogg turned, and Jeffrey, as if reading his cue, started walking along the path as it followed the edge of the steep cliff which was the wall of the gorge. A few minutes later the path veered away from the gorge and they found themselves walking through the trees again.

When the rumbling of the water grew quieter, Phineas spoke.

"Okay, now listen," he said as he stopped walking and stood still.

After what seemed a long time, Jeff asked, "to what?"

"The sound of the water, what does it sound like to you?"

"To tell the truth, it sounds like a jet engine, it's roaring."

"That's right, it doesn't really sound like water, does it?" Jeff shook his head in confusion. He wasn't sure where Bogg was going with this. "So if you're lost in the woods, or on a mountain and hear that roaring noise, go to it. The steeper the terrain, the louder it will sound. Moving water is safer to drink than water that's standing still, okay?"

Jeff stared at his friend and smiled, realizing that Bogg was trying to teach him how to take care of himself and be safe if he was lost. This was the kind of thing his father would have said to him, "okay."

"And if I don't know where you are, and it's a wilderness area, I'll look for you where there's water, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, tell me about signs? What would you do to show me where to find you?" Bogg asked.

"Make an arrow out of sticks or line up some rocks and point to the way I'm going. And I would break the ends off branches. Once I got to the water I'd find shelter and stay put, unless I had to move and then I'd travel downstream." Jeff smiled and looked up at Bogg as he finished this litany.

"Not bad kid, I must be a good teacher, eh?" Phineas laughed.

Jeff laughed, "I'm a good student more like it," he joked.

"Well, in that case, maybe I should lose you just so we can practice!" he kidded.

"No way Bogg," Jeff said seriously.

"Just kidding," Phineas said quickly, sorry he had joked about such a thing. "I just want you to be as safe as possible, and I want to be able to find you if we ever get separated."

"I know, and it's good," Jeff told him. It was a part of a game they had recently started playing. They tried to think of a difficult situation, and how they would deal with it. Jeff enjoyed hearing how Bogg would think about different situations, and had been surprised that sometimes it was very different from what Jeff would have thought. "This is a really good game you thought of."

"It's not my idea," Bogg told him as they walked, "it's one of the things I learned in voyager school, one of the most valuable things. Use your imagination and think of difficult situations and how you might get out of them, then if you're ever in a similar situation, and have to think fast, you've at least got an idea what your options are." Phineas paused and then continued, "so, we should agree on some basic rules, at least for use in the woods or wilderness, okay?"

"Like what?"

"Always stand still and listen, and if you hear water, go to it. If you have to travel, always try to go downstream. If you have to choose one path over another and they both seem the same, take the one going south as your first choice and if none is going south, take the one going west, if none goes west, then go north."

Jeff nodded, "as long as the choices seem equal, that's a good rule."

"And don't forget about me, I'll do the same thing if you're looking for me, okay?" Bogg added. When Jeff looked at him in confusion, he continued, "you might have to rescue me some day," he shrugged, "you never know, especially now that you're carrying the omni sometimes."

Jeff nodded, suddenly very serious, "I won't forget," he whispered.

"Which way is south?" Phineas asked suddenly, breaking the seriousness of the moment.

Jeff looked up, it was late afternoon and the sun was getting low in the sky. He paused a moment and pointed south.

Phineas smiled, "now that's what I'm sayin!" he kidded as he put his hand on Jeff's shoulder.


	4. Manipulating Susan

Chapter 4 Manipulating Susan

John Walker strolled over to the Administration area. He located Susan's office and familiarized himself with the general area. He watched the comings and goings of the attorney's and council members and learned their names from the posted directory. Susan sure was beautiful he thought as he watched her leave her office and head to an afternoon meeting. When the area secretary left for lunch, he walked over to her desk and craned his neck to read the schedule of appointments on the calendar. Susan's afternoon was free the day after tomorrow. That would give him just the time he needed to prepare to meet her.

Two days later, Walker waited in the hall for Susan to leave her office for lunch. As she left, he hurried forward and bumped into her, dropping the papers he had carefully assembled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Susan said as she bent to help him pick them up.

"Susan? Is that you?" John asked.

Susan looked at him and smiled in recognition, "John Walker?" she said.

"Afraid so," he answered and chuckled.

She looked at the papers she'd just picked up, "interesting topic," she said as she handed them back to him.

"Yeah, it's a special interest of mine," he answered. He paused for just the right amount of time, "look, I was just going to lunch, I'd love to hear what you've been up to since graduation, how about we catch a bite together."

Susan smiled and shrugged, "okay," and they fell into step together on their way to lunch.

So far, so good, John thought. They went through the cafeteria line and then sat down. Just as planned, John asked about what she had been doing, and she told him about how she became an attorney. He pretended to listen with interest, nodding occasionally. Just as he predicted, when she was done, she asked him a question.

"So I know you've been in the field," she began, "how did you get interested in children?" He knew she had seen the papers he had dropped.

"Oh, well, I've actually had some interesting experiences with kids in the field. I love working with them. And once in a while, I've even thought that one should become a voyager. I mean, when you see an orphan, who's so capable and energetic, you hate to leave him to just fend for himself, you know?"

Susan stared at him but didn't answer. After just the right amount of silence, John continued.

"So I started a little research project, just on my own. There's not much written about voyaging with a kid. It's been hard to find any information at all in fact." He paused, "but on the bright side, when there's so little information, it's easy to become an expert on a topic. It'll be my thesis when I start my teaching courses."

"Yeah, it is rare," Susan said, thinking about Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones. She wondered if John knew about them. There probably wasn't anything written about them in the reference library yet, they'd only been voyaging together for about 2 years. As far as she was concerned, Phineas was the expert on voyaging with kids, but John obviously didn't know that. "Did you say teaching courses?"

"Yeah, I'd love to teach, and maybe someday there might even be kids to teach about voyaging. I know that sounds stupid to some people, but some kids are capable of doing well in the field, I know it." John ended with such passion in his voice that Susan made a decision.

"Actually, there's already a kid voyaging," she said.

"You're kidding, really?" John said with just the right amount of surprise in his voice.

"He's been voyaging for almost two years with Phineas Bogg," Susan said.

John shook his head, "I knew it could work, if you get the right kid that is. Who is he, what's he like?" he asked and Susan began telling him about Jeffrey.

"Boy, I'd sure like to talk to him," John said when she finished.

"You probably won't get a chance until the next Convergence, and that's almost 2 years away," Susan said.

"Not if I could get access to a Voyager Locator," he said, watching her reaction to his request carefully.

Susan shook her head, "never happen," she said with a tone of finality.

"Oh well," John said lightly, immediately giving up on his idea of getting a Locator with Susan's help. He continued their conversation as though he didn't care in the least about access to a Locator. "It probably wouldn't have worked anyway."

"What?"

"I was going to ask Bogg if I could talk to Jeffrey, but on second thought, I doubt he'd let me."

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, anyone who voyages with a kid like that is probably very close to him. I'm sure he feels protective. Can't blame him really, I mean, the kid's probably something very special."

"He is," Susan answered.

He paused, "you sound like you know him."

"We met during the trial."

"What trial?" John asked innocently, and Susan explained the trial to John, thinking he'd been in the field and missed hearing about it. When she was done he asked, "so what was Jeffrey like?"

"Very smart and articulate," she began, "and brave, you wouldn't believe some of the things he's done."

John smiled, "I wonder what he'd like to learn at the academy, I mean if they had classes for kids."

"Well, according to Phineas, he's an historical ace, so I'm sure he'd like history. But I think he'd enjoy learning about voyagers in general." They sat in silence for another minute, "well, guess I'd better get back to work," she said standing up.

"Yeah, great talking to you Susan, I hope to see you again." As he watched Susan leave the lunchroom, he sat back down and sipped his drink. It had been a very productive lunch. Now all he had to do was lay his hands on one of the new omnis, and he was pretty sure he could do that. That would get the kid interested, that and offering to show him any historical event he wanted to see.


	5. A Vocabulary Lesson

Chapter 5 A Vocabulary Lesson

Phineas and Jeff continued along the path until it ended at a dirt road. As they stepped onto the road, they saw and heard two people yelling loudly. A man and a woman, were standing several feet apart, shouting at each other in the yard of a cottage, each red faced.

Phineas stopped and put his arm out to stop Jeff from walking any farther as he took in the scene. He had been voyaging long enough to know that an omni often dropped voyagers into arguments or other difficult situations that were important. It was best to observe what was happening.

"Well you can go on with this ridiculous idea of yours if you want, but you can do it without me!" the woman yelled and stormed inside. Phineas couldn't help noticing she was quite pretty, with dark brown hair in a long braid down her back. Her hips swayed enticingly as she walked away from the man. Phineas could tell he was miserable without her. He watched as the man took a step forward to follow her, then wavered and stopped. Indecision was written all over his face and body posture.

As the man turned away from the cottage, his gaze fell on them. He altered his course, presumably so he wouldn't have to speak to them, and walked quickly down the dirt road.

"Let's follow him," Phineas whispered.

Jeff nodded and moved to follow his mentor. There was no reason for them to do it except intuition, and Jeff had learned from Bogg that good intuition as well as careful observation of people were valuable tools in a voyager's arsenal. They followed the tall, slim man, who looked to be in his 30s. As they walked through the streets of Strasbourg, they were greeted by the aroma of many foods. Finding lunch wouldn't be hard, Jeff thought with a smile. They hurried to keep up with the man, who was still walking quickly. Two blocks farther on, the section of town appeared more dingy, and they finally saw him enter a shop, the sign painted above the door read "Orfever" and in the window another sign read "Spallier Wanted".

They paused to observe the surrounding area. Other merchant's stores lined the street. A Cooper was next door, and a wheelwright on the opposite side of the street.

Jeff had never seen so many words he didn't know, "what's a cooper?" he asked, "and an orfever? and a spallier?" He'd never felt so uncertain, down the street another sign read clower and then past that, brownsmith. He looked at Bogg and was surprised to see him looking confused.

"You know what a cooper is," Bogg said, but when Jeff's expression remained confused, he must have realized that was out of Jeff's time, so he answered the question. "A barrel maker."

"How could anyone make a living out of making barrels?" Jeff asked before he'd considered what date it was.

"You tell me," Phineas answered and Jeff paused. Lately, a lot of Bogg's answers were framed like this.

Jeff thought for a moment, then, "sorry, I guess it's obvious that there wouldn't be a good way to carry or store any liquids in this time without barrels."

"That's right," Phineas answered.

"Then what's an Orfever?" Jeff asked.

"A Goldsmith" Bogg answered immediately. This street was a good vocabulary lesson. As he glanced around he saw several words on signs that the kid probably didn't know.

"This Goldsmith is advertising for a spallier then, so what's that?" Jeff asked, impressed at Bogg's knowledge.

"A spallier is a laborer who works with tin."

Jeff paused, "do you know what all these words mean?" he asked.

Bogg shrugged, "probably, some might just be local words though."

Jeff nodded, still impressed, "teach me as we go, okay?"

"Stick with me kid," Bogg said, "and I mean that," he continued seriously, "some of these occupations aren't very safe."

"Aw Bogg," Jeff complained, it always seemed that Bogg had to put a damper on things for one reason or another. Now he was saying this small city street was dangerous? There were tons of people walking along the sidewalk, how dangerous could it be? Jeff bet that it wasn't any more dangerous than any other place they'd been in, Bogg was just being overprotective.

"Why don't we go see what's going on in the Goldsmith's shop?" Bogg asked, bringing Jeff back to the problem at hand.

So they crossed the street and entered the shop. It was dim inside and no one was visible. "Hello?" called Phineas.

The man they had followed came out of the back room. "Yes, hello, what can I do for you?"

Phineas paused, he had no story prepared. "We came in because we were interested in what you're doing in here." This was an open-ended statement like he often used to try to make it easy for someone to begin talking about anything that might be relevant to the problem. He glanced at Jeff and shrugged when Jeff rolled his eyes, expressing his disapproval of the lack of a plan. Jeff's first impulse was to formulate a carefully planned strategy, whereas Bogg's was to jump right in and immerse himself in the problem. They had discussed these differences in the past and agreed that sometimes one strategy worked better than another, but that many times, either would get the job done.

"In the front or the back?" the man asked seriously.

Jeff straightened up and shared a brief glance with Bogg, "the back" Bogg answered, hoping it would give them an idea of what was happening here.

The man smiled and motioned for them to follow him into the back room. "Did Dimitri send you? I need to make an alloy."

Before Bogg could answer, a loud booming voice called down from the upstairs living quarters. "Johannes, another customer in front."

"Herman, go to the front and see to them," Johannes answered him and they heard a pounding of footsteps.

Johannes turned back to them and extended his arm to show them the large object in the center of the room. "I know it doesn't look like much right now," he pulled back a cover and they saw a metal frame with dozens of indentations, "but as soon as I can get a tinsmith in here, I'm sure I'll be able to make the alloy to pour into these moulds." He sighed, "you witnessed my argument with Ennelin, my betrothed. She doesn't think it's a fitting way for me to spend my time."

"I'm Jeffrey Jones, and this is Phineas Bogg," Jeff said extending his hand, hoping that the man would introduce himself in response.

"Ah, and I am Johannes Gutenburg, a goldsmith by profession, but a printer in my heart."

Jeff's eyes lit up, "but you've got the mould, what's the problem?"

Phineas looked from Jeff to Gutenburg and smiled, the kid knew about the printing press.

"An alloy of lead, tin and antimony is what I need to make the type very hard. I've been looking for a tinsmith for weeks, but no luck."

"Why can't you make it?" Jeff asked, "I mean, don't you melt gold and mix it with other metals? Why can't you just do the same for this mixture?"

"I've thought about it, but it would take days once I began and Ennelin would know. She doesn't approve you see. She wants me to make more money with my goldsmithing, that way we can marry sooner."

"Doesn't she care what you want?" Bogg asked.

Johannes looked at him and sighed, "not really I'm afraid."

"Then why do you care about her?" Jeff asked.

Johannes smiled and winked at Phineas, "I have my reasons," he replied.

Jeff glanced back and forth between the two men. They thought he didn't understand because of his age, but he did. He just couldn't see how one woman, no matter how great she looked could keep an inventor from his passion. Could all men possibly be that weak?

Phineas sighed, this was one of those times when having Jeffrey with him was a disadvantage. If he was alone, he would volunteer to take turns with Gutenburg to keep the mixture moving constantly, for days if need be, until it was right. They could spell each other and Gutenburg could still see Ennelin. He could protect himself from the lead, but he couldn't take the chance of Jeff being exposed to it. He knew that lead was a poison, and would harm a child's brain much more quickly and severely than an adult's brain. He couldn't keep Jeffrey here very long, and definitely couldn't have him spending any time around molten lead.

"Couldn't Herman help you?" Phineas asked.

Johannes laughed, "I can see you're new around here."

"Why?"

"My brother Herman has never done a responsible thing in his life. I couldn't trust him to keep mixing the alloy when I visited Ennelin, and if I didn't visit her, she would come and find me. She would know what I was doing and break off the engagement." Johannes sighed, "I guess I'll just have to put this away until I find a tinsmith.

"No, don't do that," Phineas said immediately, "we'll find someone to help."

Johannes sighed and shrugged, "you can try."


	6. Poisons

Chapter 6 Poisons

Phineas and Jeffrey paused outside the Orfever Shop and looked back and forth.

"This way," Bogg said and started walking to the left.

"Why this way?" Jeff asked, annoyed that his opinion wasn't asked.

Phineas looked at him noticing the unpleasant tone, "because I understand the way artisans place their shops," he said sternly.

Jeffrey paused, aware he was being rebuked. When he began again, his tone was much better, "okay, so why are we walking this way?" he asked again.

"A lot of these artisans are metal workers. They cluster together because they share resources and dumping grounds."

"What do you mean by dumping grounds?"

"Poisonous wastes left over from what they do have to be dealt with. So they all dispose of them in the same place, usually a river, and on the downstream side of town so the poison flows away from most of the people. The more dangerous the waste, the closer to the river the shop will be. We're looking for a tinsmith, so, this is the metal working area, and it's close to the river, on the downstream side of town," Bogg finished.

Jeff stared at him, "that's pretty cool, the way you figured that out."

Phineas smiled, "remember when I said that fast moving water was safer to drink?" Jeff nodded, "well, river water flowing toward a town or city is safer to drink than water moving away from it, okay? Especially in this time period, before they understood how dangerous certain chemical could be."

"Okay," Jeff said nodding his head.

"Just do what I say and we'll be fine," Bogg finished, wanting to impress again on Jeffrey that there were dangers here.

Unfortunately, that statement had just the opposite effect. Jeff felt annoyed again that Bogg felt the need to keep reminding him of the obvious. Of course he would do what Bogg said, didn't he always?

"You know, we don't really need a tinsmith, just a person who needs to earn a little money and knows a little about producing alloys," Bogg said, oblivious to Jeff's annoyance. "There," he said, pointing to a sign that read "Redsmith."

He moved in front of the shop adjacent to the Redsmith and stood, looking around.

"What's a Redsmith?" Jeff asked.

"A goldsmith," Bogg answered.

"But I thought Orfever was a goldsmith?"

"Up north, they tend to be called Redsmiths," Phineas explained.

"What are we doing?"

"I think we may find an assistant here, and maybe we can talk him into taking the job with Gutenburg, it's farther away from the river, less toxic, though I don't know if anyone in this time zone would appreciate that concept," Bogg explained.

As Jeffrey nodded, they saw a boy not much older than Jeff leaving the building, carefully carrying a bucket. They watched as he approached the river and dumped its contents, then headed back to the shop.

"And you keep telling me to be careful? He's just about my age and he's carrying that stuff," Jeff said.

"There's nothing I can do about that," Phineas said sadly, and his tone made Jeff glance up at him. Bogg looked at the boy, "a lot of the metalworking apprentices died very young, either from accidents or poisoning. Eventually, people understood the risks better, but for most of history, life spans were so short anyway that people just didn't realize the dangers."

Jeff was taken aback, "oh," he said softly. He watched the boy as he walked back to the Redsmith's shop wondering how long he might live.

"Excuse me," Phineas said stepping in front of the boy, blocking his path.

"Huh?" the boy grunted in response.

"I couldn't help seeing that you work here," he said, pointing to the shop.

"Yeah."

"Would you be interested in a job with another goldsmith?" Bogg asked. "It's closer to the main street, doesn't smell as bad."

"Maybe," the boy answered and Bogg began talking to him.

It took the better part of an hour, and the boy went back inside the Redsmith's shop twice during their talk, but Bogg convinced him to accompany them back to Gutenburg's shop after work. Once he was introduced to Gutenburg, the boys stepped outside and Jeff opened the omni. "Green light," he said, showing it to Phineas.

"Time to go," Phineas said with relief.

"Come on Bogg, there are so many things here I've never seen, you said you'd teach me," Jeff said as they walked down the block toward a shop with a sign that read "Litster".

"Hey, not in there," Bogg jogged to catch up and put his hand on Jeff's shoulder, pulling him to a stop.

"Oh come on Bogg, how will I learn," Jeff complained.

"You're learning plenty, the dyes in those places can be dangerous."

"Dyes? So a litster dyes things?"

"Fabric, they dye fabric," Phineas told him, "and it's time to go."

"Oh come on Bogg, I used to go in fabric stores with my mom all the time," Jeff argued.

"Yeah in 1982 maybe, but in the 1400s, a lot more things aren't safe, especially for kids."

"I just want a quick look, and its farther from the river than the goldsmith," Jeff said and suddenly broke away from Phineas and ran toward the store. He couldn't imagine what could be so dangerous about fabric. Bogg was always trying to protect him from everything, even when there wasn't any danger. He slowed down as he entered the shop. As he walked inside, he did notice a strange odor. It wasn't particularly unpleasant, but Bogg's warning was still ringing in his ears so he looked around cautiously. There were rows of fabric bolts off to the side as you first entered the shop, but Jeff could see a large open vat of fluid towards the rear of the store. As he watched, an incredibly large amount of wool was dumped into the vat. There must be sheep farms nearby. He heard a noise and looked in the corner, a dog sat in a box with 3 tiny puppies snuggled together beside her. Jeffrey smiled, maybe some dyes were dangerous, but this obviously wasn't one of them.


	7. A Different Kind of Danger

Chapter 7 A Different Kind of Danger

"Jeffrey, come back here!" Phineas had shouted, but the boy kept moving. He stood still watching him for several seconds, weighing his options. This was his own fault, he thought, shaking his head. He should've told Jeffrey about this a long time ago. He estimated that there was probably only a 10% chance of the dye being from that particular family of chemicals, still he hated to go in there.

He shook his head again, he had no choice, Jeffrey was in there, and some dyes could be hazardous to children's brains even if they were only exposed for a short time. In this time period, people hadn't realized that yet, which was why the shop was so far from the river. Jeff would've had a minute or so to look around by this time, so Phineas could probably go in and get Jeff out fairly quickly.

He fingered the omni, moving the dials to the Emergency Headquarters position, hoping he wouldn't need it. Then he started toward the door. He hated to cause a stir at headquarters when he wasn't sure, but his memories were still crystal clear from 4 years ago and he just couldn't take the chance that something might happen and he wouldn't be prepared.

He entered and saw Jeff standing in a corner of the room looking into a box. "Jeff, come out now," he said sternly as soon as he was inside the door.

"Bogg, it's okay, come look at this," Jeff answered, sure the puppies would convince his friend that it was safe.

Phineas sneezed twice in quick succession, "come here now," he said as loudly as he could and sneezed again. He was afraid he might have to leave Jeffrey and didn't want to do that.

Jeff looked up, surprised by the sneezing, and the tone of voice. He noticed Bogg's face had gotten red and immediately went to him. Bogg grabbed him roughly by the arm and pulled him outside where there was fresh air.

"But it wasn't dangerous," Jeffrey explained, his initial concern giving way to anger at being pulled so hard.

Phineas knelt down on the cobblestone street, holding tightly to Jeffrey's arm. He coughed several times before he spoke. "Not for you," he gasped and when he took a breath, Jeff could hear the high pitched squeaking sound of too much air trying to go through too small an opening.

The words echoed inside Jeff's head, and suddenly he realized what they implied, "not for you" meant that it was dangerous for Bogg. He reached down for the omni, but Bogg's hand was already there and suddenly they were flying through the cosmos.


	8. The Emergency at Headquarters

Chapter 8 The Emergency At Headquarters

When they landed at Headquarters, it was obvious that they were expected. Jeff learned later that Bogg had alerted Headquarters when he'd dialed in the Emergency Code. Jeffrey landed in a panic and watched the medical workers descend upon Bogg. He tried to get as close as he could, but was dragged away. Almost before Jeff could get his bearings, they had helped Bogg onto a stretcher and were wheeling him out the door.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his arm and turned, still in shock. "What caused this?" asked a tall woman in a white coat.

"We were in a fabric store, dyes used on fabric," he answered quickly.

"What year?"

"1447, why don't you know that?" Jeff asked.

The woman had a box held to her mouth and was speaking, "his partner says fabric dyes, in 1447," she said, then she turned back to Jeffrey, "we had the omni data when he turned on the Emergency Code, but we always like to get corroboration when we can. An Omni can malfunction you know," she said.

Jeff thought of Bogg ending up in 1982, "yeah, I know," he whispered. Suddenly he felt weak. He looked around but there was no place to sit. "I have to see Bogg," he said desperately to the woman, who now seemed much calmer. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Everything that can be done, is being done for him, we'll take you there in a few minutes."

"What happened? He never told me that dyes would make him sick," Jeff said, trying to justify his earlier behavior. He didn't want to admit that he was the reason Bogg had entered that shop.

A door opened behind Jeffrey and an older man walked in. "Why don't you come sit down for a minute," he said kindly to Jeff and motioned to a room off to the side. He poured a drink of water for Jeffrey and they both sat at a small table, facing each other.

It felt disorienting to Jeff that he was sitting in this chair so calmly while Bogg was in such bad shape. "Do you know how he is? Please let me see him," he pleaded, struggling to stay in control of his emotions.

"He's being treated, you can't see him yet," the man answered.

"But how is he?" Jeff asked.

The man touched his collar, "call medical and see if they've got a status on Voyager Bogg," he said. "Yes sir" a voice came back.

"I'm Trevor Dillon," the man said reaching his hand out toward Jeff. As Jeff shook it, he got a look at the man. He was clean-shaven and had short grayish hair. He took off his glasses and their eyes met. He had kind eyes and they looked tired. "I'm in charge of Mission Control, here at Headquarters. I know we've never met, but I know about you, the basics anyway. I'm sorry to meet you under such trying circumstances."

"Then you know Bogg too?"

"Very well, yes."

"He's the best you know," Jeff said as if daring the man to contradict him.

"I know. And I know you've become very close, that's why I want to make sure you understand what happened."

Jeff looked at him and suddenly felt important. Bogg often made him feel this way too. He was going to give Jeff the information he wanted, just like he was an adult. So he sat and waited.

"About 4 years ago, Voyager Bogg entered a dye manufacturer in the year 1540. After only a few moments in the building, he developed a severe allergic reaction. He just barely managed to transport back here in time."

"You mean he almost died?" Jeff asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, his heart did stop twice before he was stabilized. We tested him thoroughly after he recovered, and discovered that he is allergic to a fabric dye in wide use from 1510 - 1560. We locked his omni out of those time zones for his safety. Unfortunately, before it's use became widespread, that particular dye was used off and on throughout history prior to 1510. The chance of him running into it again in gaseous form was considered to be extremely remote. We educated him on how to avoid it and he hasn't had any exposure until now. He's quite an expert on dyes actually, we had to make sure of that, for his own safety. Did you know they tend to be quite dangerous, especially to the brains of children? I mean even to people who aren't allergic?"

Jeff nodded, "Bogg told me," he whispered as he looked at his feet.

Dillon stopped and put his hand on Jeffrey's shoulder. "I don't know what happened, but I've supervised partner teams for a long time. When something like this happens, partners tend to blame themselves. So I want to make sure you understand that whatever happened wasn't your fault. He knew everything there was to know about how to stay safe in 1447. He obviously made some miscalculation."

"Chief?" Dillon's lapel microphone squawked.

He touched it, "yes?"

"Voyager Bogg's condition is guarded."

Dillon smiled, "see, he's fine," he said to Jeff.

"Guarded isn't fine," Jeff told him, "when can I see him?"

"Guarded is the best you're going to get under these circumstances. The last time he was here he was in critical condition for 3 days." Dillon hated it when honesty was so harsh, but Jeffrey was a Voyager too, and he wasn't used to lying or soft-pedaling bad news to his Voyagers.

Jeff shuddered and blinked back tears. "He didn't miscalculate," Jeff said taking a deep breath, "I disobeyed him. I went into a shop with dyes after he said not too." Jeff looked away again, too ashamed to look Dillon in the eye."

Dillon stared at the child and paused, his heart went out to him. "I'll take you there now," he said kindly, and stood up and beckoned Jeff to exit the room.

Jeff walked quietly beside Dillon over to the Emergency Medical Unit. Finally they arrived and Jeff could sit down. Dillon asked about Bogg at the desk and then went back to Jeffrey. "They know you're here, but they say it'll be awhile before you can see him."

Jeff nodded and stared at the floor as Dillon sat beside him. "I'll say it again, and it will go in my official report, whatever happened, it wasn't your fault."

Jeff nodded, but still wouldn't look up. No matter what Dillon said or how headquarters looked at it, Jeffrey knew what had happened, and he knew whose fault it was.


	9. Rachel

Chapter 9 Rachel

"You sent for me sir?" said a female voice as Jeff noticed someone's feet in front of him. She had entered so quietly, or he'd been so consumed by his thoughts that he hadn't heard.

"Yes Rachel, I know you're Committed, so I thought you might be the best choice to stay with Jeffrey here. Have you been briefed?" Dillon asked.

Rachel Walsh nodded, "yes sir."

"Any questions?"

"I'm sure Jeffrey can answer any questions that might come up," Rachel answered.

"Good," and Trevor Dillon stood up, "remember what I said will go in my report, okay?"

Jeff nodded and finally looked up at him.

"Rachel Walsh will stay with you as temporary guardian until Voyager Bogg is feeling better. She will provide you with a place to sleep and meals."

Jeff looked at Rachel and she smiled at him. "Thanks for everything," he said to Dillon, then watched him turn and leave the waiting room. After Dillon left, Rachel sat down beside him, but Jeff wasn't interested in small talk. He was happy that she sat with him and was quiet.

His thoughts were settling down. It looked like Bogg was going to be okay. Dillon seemed to think so anyway, and he struck Jeff as a man who understood things. Gradually, Jeff felt his heart stop pounding but his stomach still felt tied up in knots. He started to imagine how angry Bogg would be with him. This was by far the worst thing he'd ever done. Maybe Bogg would decide he didn't want to voyage with Jeff any more. Maybe he would decide to leave him here at headquarters and just visit between voyages. He thought back to the adoption at the last Convergence and wondered if Bogg was sorry he had adopted him. After all, who would want a stupid kid causing trouble anyway?

Jeffrey stared sadly at the floor and suddenly felt very alone. All he wanted was for Bogg to hug him, like he would have before this happened. All he wanted was for Bogg to be okay. He wouldn't even care if he yelled at him and left him here, just as long as he was all right.

"You must be Jeffrey, I'm Dr. Reyes," a friendly voice interrupted his thoughts as a man approached.

Jeff sprang to his feet, "how is he?"

"He's going to be fine, he wants to see you," the doctor said, then turned to Rachel, "are you the temporary guardian?" She nodded and he continued speaking, "he wanted to make sure someone was assigned to take care of Jeffrey."

"When can I see him," Jeff interrupted.

"Now, but I want to talk to you first," and the doctor got down on one knee so he could speak to Jeffrey face to face. "The medicine we gave him is making him very tired, so don't worry if he falls asleep on you, okay? He'll be a lot better tomorrow."

Jeff nodded and followed Reyes into the treatment area.

As soon as he entered, he saw Bogg lying on a bed on the left side of the large open area. He rushed forward toward the bed, but stopped when he was about 2 feet away from it. He stood staring at the still figure under the clean white sheets. Jeff could see Bogg's chest rising and falling slowly, his eyes were closed, it looked like he was sleeping. Jeff took a deep breath and breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled in spite of himself. Even though he was dreading what Bogg would say to him, he moved to the bed, unable to stay away. When he was beside the bed, he put his hand on Bogg's chest. He stood there for several seconds, watching him as his hand rose and fell with Bogg's breathing as though he needed to be convinced that he was really all right.

"Bogg?" he said finally, and he could feel tears in his eyes when he saw Phineas' eyes open.

Phineas stretched out an arm toward Jeffrey and whispered, "come here," and Jeff put his arms around him.

"I'm sorry," Phineas said as he pulled Jeff into a hug.

Jeff sobbed just once, then sniffed as he sat back up. "What're you sorry for?" he asked.

"I should've told you a long time ago about this allergy," he paused, "this wouldn't have happened if you knew."

Jeff wiped his eyes with his sleeve, "this is my fault, not yours," he whispered.

Phineas shook his head, "no it's not."

"I went into that shop after you told me not to."

"You're a kid, kids do things like that," Phineas said rubbing his arm gently. He'd been afraid that Jeff would blame himself, just like he'd blamed himself for not being able to save his parents. "It's not your fault," he repeated, "you didn't know because I didn't tell you, and that's my fault."

There was silence before Jeff spoke, "but why didn't you?"

"Because I screwed up," it hurt Phineas to say it, but it was true. "I guess I was a little embarrassed, and because of that, it just never seemed to be the right time to tell you."

"Why would you be embarrassed?"  
Phineas smiled, "I'm supposed to be the one taking care of you."

"So?"

"So I have to be strong enough to do that, but I'm not very strong when I get near those chemicals."

"But that's crazy!"

"It seems so now, I guess."

"No matter how strong you are, if I don't obey you, sooner or later someone's gonna get hurt," Jeff's voice shook and Phineas reached out again and pulled him close.

"I need a hug," he whispered into Jeff's ear and he could feel Jeffrey sobbing a few more times.

After a few minutes he was calmer and sat up again, settling himself on the edge of the bed. "I'll never disobey you again Bogg, I mean it, I've grown up a lot today," he said, an intense, serious expression on his face.

"I'm sorry you had to go through this," Phineas said softly, his eyes half closed.

Jeffrey looked around at all the medical equipment that surrounded them, "I think you suffered more than I did," he said. When Bogg didn't respond, Jeff looked at him closely, his eyes were closed. He remembered what the doctor had said about the medicine making him sleepy. "Bogg?" he asked.

"M'yeah," Phineas answered groggily.

"G'night," Jeff whispered leaning forward to give him one more quick hug before he stood up and headed back out into the waiting room.


	10. Committed

Chapter 10 Committed

Jeff wasn't surprised to see Rachel was still waiting for him. "Thanks for waiting," he said and smiled at her. His heart felt lighter than he'd ever thought it could. Bogg would be all right, and didn't even blame him for this accident. Jeff knew it was his fault, but he also knew how to prevent anything like this from ever happening again, and that gave him some comfort. Just hearing Bogg's voice had made him feel so much better.

"I talked to the doctor while you were visiting," Rachel began. "He's going to sleep all night, so even though I know a part of you wants to stay here, I'd like you to come home with me, okay?"

Jeff nodded, "we can come back tomorrow, right?"

"First thing," she said immediately.

"Okay."

"Sit down for a minute," she began and Jeff looked at her in confusion. Once he was sitting, she began her story. "You heard Trevor say I was Committed, that's why he picked me to take care of you. Before I take you home with me, I need you to understand what that means."

Jeff listened intently, "okay, what does it mean?"

"Voyagers call it being Committed when you adopt a child from the regular time stream, and actually live with them. You make a commitment to them."

Jeff stared at her, "I don't understand."

"When you come home with me tonight, we'll omni to a house in a suburb of Lincoln, Nebraska, 1952. I adopted Steven there and that's his place and time. He doesn't know I'm a Voyager and we can't tell him. Every day, I go to work here at headquarters, and he goes to school, and then we come home and have supper together. I sleep there and spend weekends with him too."

"But what if your assignments last longer than a day?" Jeff asked, trying to understand this new concept.

"I work in Research and Development here at Headquarters. I used to be a Field Worker, but now I work the same number of hours every day." She paused, "do you understand?"

"I think so ... wow," Jeff whispered. "So if you adopted him, what happened to his parents?"

"His father died in the war, he never really knew him, and his mother," she paused, "she disappeared two years ago."

"What happened to her?"

Rachel shook her head, "he doesn't know, so I don't think it would be right to tell you."

"But you know, don't you?" Jeff asked.

Rachel nodded.

Jeff digested this, "so how old is he and why did you adopt him?" Jeff asked, "I mean there are a lot of orphans, you can't adopt them all."

Rachel took a deep breath and stood up, "he's 13," she began, "and he was living in an orphanage when I met him. I didn't want to leave him there. That's a story for another day. Now that you know the situation, you'll understand why you can't talk about being a Voyager or anything that happens at headquarters. I'll introduce you and Phineas as my cousins, okay?"

"Okay," Jeff answered. The idea of being Committed was something he'd never thought about and it was interesting. He liked Rachel. He would like anyone who would adopt an orphan. He looked forward to meeting Steven and put his hand on Rachel's arm as she took an omni off her belt. He glanced at the door to Bogg's room one last time before they disappeared.

They landed gently on a dirt path. "Where's your house?" Jeff asked looking around, they were surrounded by trees. Then he looked at her omni, "why was our landing so soft? Why does your omni look different than Bogg's?"

"This is my landing area, so no one from this time sees me appearing and disappearing." She held up her omni, "this omni has limited functions because I don't work in the field anymore. I got it when I Committed to Steven. It only gets me back and forth to work at Headquarters."

"Oh," Jeff acknowledged. He enjoyed learning all sorts of things about Voyagers and smiled, but suddenly his thoughts returned to Bogg and the fact that it was his fault he was in the hospital. Just as suddenly, his enthusiasm dampened and he sighed.


	11. Steven

Chapter 11 Steven

They made their way along the path to a small white cape with green shutters. Steven was sitting on a porch swing waiting as they approached, he was thin, with light brown hair and glasses. Several freckles were scattered across his nose and cheeks. Rachel introduced them and explained that Jeff's father was in the hospital recovering from an illness, then went inside.

Jeffrey enjoyed the meal and played several games of Parchesi with Steven while Rachel straightened up the kitchen and did some paperwork. Steven was friendly and Jeff enjoyed the game, but he kept glancing up at the clock on the mantle throughout the evening, wondering if Bogg was still okay. Finally, at 10 PM it was time for bed and he couldn't stand it any longer. He went to the kitchen and asked Rachel if there was any way she could contact the Medical Unit to check on Bogg's condition.

She quickly glanced around to be sure Steven wasn't around, and motioned Jeff into her bedroom. She pulled out her omni and pushed on several keys. "This has a direct link into the communication system at headquarters. Just watch," and Jeff watched letters appear on a screen that Bogg didn't have on his omni. When she was connected to the medical unit, she typed in a question and Jeff watched the answer appear. "V Bogg condition guarded, no change."

"I wish they wouldn't say "guarded", it makes it sound like he's in danger," Jeff confided to her.

"Just think of it like they're guarding him, keeping an extra close eye on him, that's all," Rachel said as she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

Jeff looked at her and felt better. He decided he would force himself to think of it that way. He put his arms around her and gave her a quick hug, "thanks for everything today," he said.

"No problem, now you should get to bed, I'll wake you up at 7 and you'll be visiting him by 8."

A few minutes later, Jeff was lying on a roll-away bed in Steven's room.

"So where are you from?" Steven asked him as he settled under the covers.

Jeff paused and thought about what answer would be best. For normal things like this, probably the truth was okay, so he answered, "New York."

"How long are you gonna visit? Don't you have to go to school?" Steven asked again.

"We're kind of on vacation," Jeff answered.

There was silence before Steven spoke again, "what's it like to have a Dad?"

Jeff froze, unsure what to say, "it's great," he whispered, picturing himself sending a fastball dead center into his father's baseball glove and his father returning it very quickly. After a short paused to savor the thought, he added, "but you must have lots of friends who have fathers, you must've seen them."

"I don't really have a lot of friends," Steven said.

Jeff thought of Bogg and suddenly missed him, "all you really need is one."

"I don't have any friends," Steven said quietly.

Jeff paused awkwardly, not knowing what to say, "sorry."

"It's okay, it's just..." Steven stopped and Jeff waited but he didn't continue.

"What?" Jeff asked.

"The other kids gang up on me, beat me up." He shrugged as if this was just an average conversation. "I'd just like to talk to a man sometimes, like a father," Steven said finally.

Jeff paused, his jaw hung open. He didn't know what to say. Finally he spoke "I can understand that. Maybe when Bogg feels better we can both visit and I can introduce you. He's easy to talk to, I bet you'd like him."

"Does he know anything about electricity?" Steven asked hopefully.

"I don't think so, not really."

"How about math?"

Jeff shook his head, "no." He didn't understand why Steven would be asking these things.

"Then he probably couldn't help me," Steven said dismissively.

"Bogg's pretty smart," Jeff continued, trying to defend him, "I mean, about people."

"I bet you played baseball with your dad."

"Course, all the time, why?"

"Everyone's obsessed with baseball here. It's such as stupid game."

Jeff wanted to tell him it was a great game, but wisely held his tongue. "Why do you say that?" he asked instead.

"It's all everyone does, and talks about," he answered in an angry tone. "The base hits, the balls and strikes, who pitches the best, who caught the high fly ball, the broken loudspeaker so they can't hear their names blaring all over the neighborhood, and it's not just the kids, the parents too," he paused, "oh forget it."

Jeff was in shock. To him, baseball had been so special. He had so many happy memories associated with baseball. It was hard to believe someone could hate the game.

"Maybe I could teach you how to play?" he asked tentatively.

Steven laughed, "they'd never pick me for the team anyway." After a short silence, he changed the subject, "you wouldn't happen to play chess, would you?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Will you play with me tomorrow?"

"If I have time, after I visit Bogg," Jeff answered.

"Why don't you call him Dad?"

"We were friends first, then he adopted me, and I was so used to calling him Bogg that it just comes out."

"He's not your father then, not really?"

Jeff paused, "he is now, but I was born with another mom and dad."

Steven leaned up on one elbow, "so you're an orphan too?" he was clearly interested.

"I was before Bogg adopted me," Jeff answered.

There was silence after that and Jeff put his hands behind his head as he lay back on the pillow. He stared up at the moon through a nearby window, and thought about playing baseball in the backyard with his father. It had been fun and he wouldn't trade the memory for anything, but he couldn't think of a way it had really helped him. Then he thought about the game he and Bogg had been playing lately. That was definitely a game that would help him. He supposed that father's were always trying to teach their sons something. He felt sorry for Steven, who'd never known his dad.

As he lay there, his thoughts strayed to the most recent game he'd been playing with Bogg. If he were to imagine a worst case situation, what would it be and what would he do? What if something happened to Bogg? What could Jeff do about it? Bogg usually had the omni, so if he needed to, he could get himself out of a bad situation, but he didn't always have it. Sometimes he gave it to Jeff. What if something happened to Bogg while Jeff had the omni and wasn't close enough to touch him and omni out? He shuddered as an image of the waterfall they had seen earlier popped into his mind. What if Bogg had fallen off that cliff and Jeff had the omni.

Jeff shook his head, he didn't want to think about it. Maybe this wasn't such a good game after all, but once the thought entered his mind, he couldn't seem to get rid of it. He tried to think, but couldn't think of any way he could save Bogg if something like that happened.


	12. John Walker

Chapter 12 John Walker

The next morning Jeffrey sprung out of bed as soon as Rachel woke him up. They all ate a quick breakfast together and then left the house. Steven walked toward school and a few minutes after he left, Rachel and Jeff walked toward the landing area.

Once at Headquarters, Jeff led the way quickly to the Medical Unit and went directly to the desk. They had moved Bogg into a smaller room and as Jeff got to the door, Rachel could see him visibly relax. Phineas was sitting in a chair just finishing breakfast.

"Bogg!" Jeff called as he rushed into his arms.

"Hey kid, how you doin?" Phineas asked. As he hugged Jeff, he glanced up at Rachel who was standing in the doorway watching them.

"Thanks for taking care of him last night," he said, and she blushed.

"It was a pleasure, really," she answered. "And I'm not done until Trevor says so, so just take your time about getting back to normal."

"Okay."

"Jeff, I'll check back during my break at 10 o'clock, okay?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, thanks," Jeff answered. After she left, Jeff turned to Phineas, "how do you feel?" he asked seriously.

Phineas paused as he considered what to say, he didn't want to lie, "pretty good, not 100% yet."

"Can I do anything?" Jeff's tone was still serious.

"No, they're just giving me medicine, I just have to wait it out. It's gonna be boring for a few days."

"Boring is good," Jeff said quickly, then "wanna hear what I found out last night?"

Phineas nodded and leaned back in the chair as Jeff explained about being Committed and meeting Steven.

The morning passed slowly. Phineas rested in bed while the medicine was hooked to the IV and Jeff scoured the room for something to read. At 10 o'clock, Rachel appeared at the door.

Bogg caught her eye and she nodded, "all set," she said to him, then turned to Jeffrey.

"What's all set?" Jeff asked, glancing back and forth between them.

"I wanna show you something, come take a walk with me" Rachel answered and they left together. She took him outside and across a wide courtyard where a path lead to a building far away from the others. The sign on it read "Voyager Academy."

"Wow!" Jeff exclaimed, "what're we going to do here?"

"I called one of my friends and asked if they had an extra textbook they'd lend me."

"For me? Really?" Jeff couldn't believe it.

"It was Phineas' idea. He seems to think you'd like to read about anything to do with voyaging. This was the only book they'd lend to a minor, but I thought it was better than nothing."

"It'll be great," Jeff said, wondering what the topic would be. They walked into the building and Rachel spoke to someone in an office close to the entrance. Soon she was putting a book into his hands.

Jeff looked at the well-worn cover, A Condensed History of the Voyaging Culture by Jacqueline Hernandez-Lopez. "This is great! Thanks a lot!" Jeff said enthusiastically.

Rachel smiled at him, "I've gotta tell ya, that's one of the first classes you take here and it's not usually very popular. Most students find it boring, they usually prefer the classes with more action."

"I need a break from the action at the moment, so it's the perfect time to read it," Jeff told her happily as they walked back.

"Hey Rachel, wait up," the male voice surprised Jeff and he turned to face the man when Rachel stopped. Rachel, on the other hand, wished they could keep walking. She felt a sense of dread when she realized who it was.

"Hi John," she said.

"I just had my preliminary interview," John offered, staring at Jeffrey. So far so good, he thought, "I don't think I know you," he said to Jeff extending his hand, "I'm John Walker."

"Jeffrey Jones," Jeff answered shaking his hand.

"Interview for what?" Rachel asked.

"A teaching position," he answered, keeping his eyes on Jeff.

"But it's too early," Rachel began.

"Not when you had the highest grades and best reviews at the academy," Walker returned. "Well, they'll make their decision next week so I'll be here for a while, maybe I'll see you both again."

"Okay, see ya," Rachel said and put her hand behind Jeffrey's shoulder to turn him around back toward the Medical Unit. She felt uncomfortable with this "accidental" encounter. Walker had as much as told her he was going to research Jeff so he could manipulate him into voyaging with him. And now Rachel knew, with as much certainty as Olivia had, that Phineas wouldn't want Jeff to voyage with anyone but him. Now that Rachel knew them, she felt that John was trying to break up a family, not just voyage with a kid and it made her angry. Her guilty conscience came to the surface again and she decided she would tell Phineas all she knew about John Walker. She hated to admit her part in this to him, but Jeffrey needed to be protected, there was just no other way to look at it. She would do anything to protect Steven and she knew Phineas Bogg felt the same way about Jeffrey.

John Walker turned and walked away smiling. That encounter had gone just like he'd planned. He'd met the kid, let him know he was very smart and that he was qualified to be a teacher, even if he wasn't one just yet. He'd kept it short and not overdone. It was a good days work. Now he had to think about how he would accidentally run into Jeffrey tomorrow.

_Author's Note: I think it makes sense that Voyagers would have their own unique culture. They are a very unique group of people. That's why I wrote the last chapter of "Convergence" they way I did. It showed how voyagers would come together as a community to acknowledge life-changing events, like marriage, births and deaths. The idea of being committed falls into that category too, and it's unique to voyagers. So I figured that new voyagers would need to be indoctrinated into the culture, hence the textbook. It would probably be the very first course a new voyager would take. _


	13. Rachel's Confession

Chapter 13 Rachel's Confession

Jeffrey got back and showed the book to Phineas. His excitement was infectious, though privately, Phineas thought it was the most boring textbook in the school. Phineas smiled to himself as Jeff settled in a chair in the corner and started to read. How had he ever ended up with such a smart kid?

Very soon, Rachel appeared at the door. She asked Jeff to wait outside and went in to talk to Phineas in private.

She began immediately, "I'm not used to beating around the bush, so I'll just say this."

She stood nervously in front of Phineas and paused briefly before continuing. "John Walker is a voyager you went to school with. He might not have been in your class, I don't know, but he's back from voyaging now and we had lunch together a few weeks ago. I told him about you and Jeff and he told me about..."

She talked on and on, explaining everything she could about her encounter with John Walker, what she had told him, and that he had as much as said he was going to try to convince Jeff to travel with him. Then she told him about their encounter today.

When she was done, she appoologized, and Phineas was silent for a moment. Finally he spoke and his voice was serious, "thank you for telling me this Rachel, I really appreciate it. Please don't feel bad. I'll explain it to Jeff this afternoon and we can make sure one of us is always with him."

When the noon medication dose finished running through the IV and the nurse disconnected him, Phineas moved to the chair and called Jeffrey to sit beside him. Then he began telling him about Walker.

"He didn't seem dangerous though," Jeff said fifteen minutes later, after Phineas had explained all he knew about the situation. "I mean, he wants to be a teacher, how bad could he be?"

"He may not be bad at all, but his judgement's a bit off if he thinks the way to a teaching career is to trick you into voyaging with him," Phineas responded.

"He could find other kids, kids are everywhere," Jeff said.

"He wants you because you're special, and not just to me. You're the only voyager who's a kid. It would make him stand out if he had voyaged with you. And that's what he wants to do. Rachel looked him up and all his voyages have been high profile. He manipulates assignments to his advantage in the control room somehow. Now he wants to voyage with a high profile kid."

"It doesn't sound like he likes voyaging at all," Jeff observed, "if he liked it, he wouldn't be so interested in getting out of the field and teaching."

"And that means he's probably not very good in the field, which is another reason I don't want you to voyage with him, so you stay with me or Rachel, okay?"

"Aw Bogg, I won't go off with him."

"I know you won't if you can help it, but I don't trust him. All he'd have to do is get close enough to touch you and then touch his omni. Just humor me, okay?" Phineas persisted.

"Okay," Jeff answered, and even though he felt a little bit annoyed that Bogg didn't think he could keep himself safe, he realized how lucky he was to have Bogg to protect him and worry about him. He smiled as he went back to his book.

Later that day, Jeffrey and Rachel omnied back to Nebraska and Jeff spent the evening playing chess with Steven.


	14. Manipulating Jeff

_Author's Note: This entire story grew out of my original story which was called Manipulation. It was going to be about some bad guy who was manipulating Jeffrey into some dangerous situation. But as I wrote more details about my characters and they became less two dimensional, other ideas rolled in and knocked around. One thing led to another and before I knew it, the manipulation story was embedded into an entirely new idea about fathers and sons. Then I had to go back and rework a lot of chapters and do some other clean-up work. I scattered some details throughout the story quite late so that it could all be part of one cohesive whole. The first chapter was added late too, it was originally going to start with what is now chapter two, but I figured I should have the boys start off the story and I had to insert some more details into it before the story got started anyway. The story arc about Rachel and Steven also grew unexpectedly because of my desire to have more fully developed characters, and I had to go back and put in details to bring that in line with the overall story too. Sorry for rambling, as Bogg would say "Voyager's Perogative" (from Cleo and the Babe)._

Chapter 14 Manipulating Jeff

The next morning was a repeat of the first, and soon Jeff was curled up in the chair in Bogg's room engrossed in the book. Soon enough, Rachel appeared again to take Jeffrey to lunch.

"Rachel, could I ask a favor?" Phineas began as soon as he saw her.

"Of course," she answered immediately.

He motioned his head toward Jeffrey, "he's had his face in that book for hours, would you show him the ropes courses after lunch? Just so he knows there's more here at headquarters than books?" Phineas asked.

Rachel laughed and shook her head, "you got it, okay kid, let's get going or we won't have time for everything we've gotta do."

"Ropes courses?" Jeff asked as he got up to leave. "That sounds interesting."

Phineas smiled and stretched out on the bed as the nurse came in to start the next dose of medication.

They ate a quick lunch and then Rachel took Jeffrey to a building next to the Academy. Jeff's jaw dropped when he saw what was inside.

"I don't know what a ropes course is, but this looks like a lot more than ropes," he said as they walked inside. The room was huge, and it was filled with more things to climb on and through than Jeffrey could believe. He didn't know where to go first.

"Yeah, we call it the ropes courses, but it's everything. I think I remember Phineas and his gang playing around in here a lot, even when we weren't assigned."

"Can I climb?" Jeff asked, staring at the rope ladder in front of him that stretched all the way to the high ceiling. He would definitely have to spend a lot of time in here with Bogg when he got better. Until then, he figured he'd better practice so he would be able to keep up with him.

"Sure, I got permission to take a long lunch," Rachel told him settling down to watch him as Jeff rushed forward.

He was very agile, nothing at all like Steven, who seemed so uncoordinated at times. She smiled when she thought of her son. It was still a strange feeling, that she had a son. He was so smart, but so different from the other kids around him. That's why she couldn't leave him in that orphanage. He had been bullied and made fun of relentlessly. When she had to leave him in that place, it tore her apart. She'd been thinking about leaving field work and taking a job in R & D anyway, but leaving Steven was what finally convinced her to do it. It took awhile for the Commitment to be approved, but after that, the adoption in 1952 had been easy, his mother had willingly given her consent, she had never understood him, they weren't at all alike.

Rachel and Steven however were a great deal alike. Their life together had been easy to adjust to and they had always gotten along well. His brain worked just like hers did, he'd be a natural at research some day. Until then however, he'd still be an outcast in a culture so heavily into sports, but at least with a family, he had a loving home, a shelter to come home to when the world got too cruel.

The red light suddenly beeping on her omni interrupted her thoughts. "What the ..." she whispered pulling it off her belt and looking at it. She had never been involved with a Level 1 emergency before.

"Jeffrey?" she called, he was very high up, close to the high ceiling.

"What?" he called back.

"There's an emergency in Mission Control, we have to go!" she called and even at this distance, Jeff knew something serious had happened and that it would take him a few minutes to climb down.

"You can go, I'll go back to Medical," Jeff called out as he started down.

Rachel hesitated, "be careful climbing down," Rachel called up to him, wishing he could go faster. She looked at her watch. A minute had already gone by and he still had a long way to go.

"Really Rachel, I'll be fine, I promise I'll go right back to Bogg," Jeff called down as he continued to climb.

He wouldn't be allowed in the Control Center during a red alert anyway, Rachel thought to herself, then she made a decision. "Okay, be careful coming down and go right back to Medical, all right?" she called back as her omni buzzed again, this time louder.

"Yeah, good luck," Jeff called as she left. He continued climbing and reached the sandy floor about 5 minutes later.

John Walker watched Jeffrey climb nimbly up to the top of the rope ladder, then whispered into the patch on his shirt collar. Almost instantly, Rachel's omni began to blink red and beep. He watched and listened to their exchange and smiled when Rachel left the building. As Jeffrey reached the ground he turned to pick up his gym bag and headed toward the rope.

"Hi," he paused, "it's Jeffrey isn't it?" Walker said as he approached.

Jeff froze, realizing he might be in danger. What should he do? He glanced around, Walker was between him and the door, but it was a large area and he could probably maneuver himself around to a safer position. He made a decision to play along with whatever Walker said. Bogg had been teaching him about multiple plans for escape from any situation and this looked like a good time to make some plans. Even though things seemed fine at present, Jeff realized that Bogg was right. Walker had an omni, all he'd have to do was get close enough to touch Jeff and they could be far away from here.

"Hi," he said in a friendly tone and fake coughed a few times.

Walker paused, taken by surprise by the coughing. "I just came in to get some exercise before I go back into the field," he said.

"Sorry," Jeff said, continuing to cough and walking around him toward the door, "I just need some air." He was improvising, and it seemed to be working. Walker was watching him with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Just my asthma, I guess the climb was too much for me," Jeff answered.

Walker followed Jeff to the door, how could a voyager have asthma, especially if exercise made it worse?"

"I thought you'd voyaged with Phineas Bogg? How could you do that with asthma?"

Jeff panicked as he led the way out the door. What was he going to do now? "It just started," he said walking across the grass toward the hospital building, trying to keep himself more than an arm's length away from Walker.

John Walker kept up with him. He was confused. This didn't make any sense. The kid had referred to his asthma at first as though he'd had it for a long time, and now as though it had just recently been discovered. The kid seemed afraid of him, and suddenly he knew that Rachel had spoken to him, and maybe even Bogg. He slowed his pace to think. He needed the hook to get the kid's interest, so he took out the brand new silver omni and held it out toward him as they walked. He held it in the palm of one hand so the kid would be able to see that he couldn't activate it. "I just got my teaching omni, I'm going to observe Columbus landing in the New World."

Jeff saw the omni out of the corner of his eye, and he understood the non-threatening way it was being offered to him. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all. He slowed his pace but continued toward the medical building. Walker's comment caught his interest. "You can't just go to watch, Bogg said that's not allowed, you might mess something up."

"With a regular omni that's true, but this one allows observation, I'll be using it with students. We're shielded from the regular time stream. It's so students can see historical events."

Jeffrey stopped walking and looked at the omni, still keeping his distance, "that sounds great," he said seriously. "Do you think Bogg can get an omni like that?' he asked, looking up at Walker.

John Walker smiled, he had diffused this situation quite well. The kid had obviously been warned about him, so he couldn't continue on with his plans for today, but he could tell he had piqued the kid's interest and gained his trust. It was time to go now.

"I doubt it, only teacher's are authorized to use one," he paused, "well, I didn't mean to walk this far out of my way, I was just worried about your breathing. You seem better now, so I'm gonna head back to the ropes courses. I'll see you around," he finished.

Suddenly Rachel rushed up from behind him and put herself in front of Jeffrey, out of breath. "Stay away from him," she said, dropping all pretense.

"I was just leaving," Walker said in what he was sure was a well acted surprised tone. Then he turned and walked away, he would let Jeffrey explain. "See you Jeff."

Rachel stared after him as he walked away, a confused look on her face. "What just happened?" she asked Jeff and he related the events of the encounter as they walked back to Bogg.

"What was the emergency?" Jeff asked her after he'd finished.

"False alarm," she told him. I came back as soon as they released me, we've never had a false alarm before, and I thought it was a bit suspicious, since it happened right when you were the farthest away from me you could be. Guess I was right."

"You think he had something to do with it?" Jeff asked in disbelief.


	15. A Good Liar

Chapter 15 A Good Liar

"Yes," Phineas answered Jeff's question after they had explained what had happened a few minutes later.

"Oh come on Bogg, he actually seemed nice. I was only scared because you said he might try to omni me out, but honestly, I don't think he would've tried to take me if I didn't want to go. Wouldn't kidnapping kind of ruin his teaching career?"

Phineas looked at Jeffrey, "we don't know that he really wants a teaching career. It just seems fishy to me. Stay away from him," he ordered.

"That teaching omni sounded neat, can you get one so we can observe history too?"

"Teaching omni?" Bogg asked in surprise.

"You can't observe history," Rachel added.

"He had a silver omni, like Drake had. He said it would shield you from the time stream so you could observe history without accidentally effecting it." Jeff looked from one to the other and then continued slowly, "there's no such thing, is there?"

"No" Rachel said with authority. "We've been trying to perfect that function for a long time."

There was silence then and Jeff had to admit to himself that Walker was a good liar. He was glad he'd stayed away from him.

"I'm glad you used your brain and kept away from him," Phineas' voice echoed his own thoughts.

"I kept thinking about how you were teaching me to always have a way out of a situation, you know, to be prepared. It's hard to think while something's happening though."

Bogg nodded, "that's why it's good to imagine worst case situations and how you'd handle them. Remember that game we've been playing?"

Jeff nodded.

"Anyway, you did good and I'm proud of you."

Jeff felt a warmth spreading through him. Hearing Bogg say those words meant more to him than he could explain in words. He smiled and thought once again how much Bogg meant to him and that he would never again disobey him.

"Well, I've gotta get back, I'll see you tonight Jeff," Rachel said as she headed back to work.

After she left, Phineas turned to Jeffrey. "Now that we have a few minutes, there's something else I want to talk to you about," he began and when Bogg looked at him, Jeff noticed a difference in his expression, he was suddenly very serious.

"What?" Jeff repeated, becoming concerned.

And as though he could read his mind, Bogg's next comment brought Jeff back to earth. "Don't take this the wrong way," Bogg began, "but I want to talk about disobedience."

"Oh," Jeff whispered and in the silence that followed, you could hear a pin drop.


	16. Intelligent Disobedience

Chapter 16 Intelligent Disobedience

Jeffrey's insides were shaking. "Bogg, I'm really sorry, I know this was all my fault," his voice quivered a little.

Phineas reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, "stop now, we've been over this and it's done. What happened wasn't your fault. But hear me out," Bogg put his hand up and Jeff stopped talking. He sat silently, dreading what Bogg was going to say next.

"I was thinking about when you said you'd never disobey me again." After Jeff nodded, he continued, "well, actually, I'm not very comfortable with that. So I thought of this idea. You could call it 'Intelligent Disobedience' or 'Deliberate Disobedience'."

Here he stopped so he could emphasize the next part, "I'm not saying to disobey me, but I don't want you doing what I say blindly either, without thinking. Things can change fast in the Field. If I tell you something like to stay put, I want you to do it, but if I'm not there and then it gets dangerous all of a sudden to stay where I said to, you need to be able to make an intelligent decision to disobey. Don't do it just because you want to, but if you think you have to. And only if you have to. Okay?"

Jeff didn't answer right away. He stared at Bogg and understood that Bogg really didn't blame him for what had happened. That Bogg was always thinking of things to teach him and ways for him to be safe. He felt guiltier than ever for going into that shop with the dyes. All Bogg had been trying to do was keep him from getting hurt. He nodded his answer, not trusting his voice. They sat together for another few seconds and then Jeff reached out and hugged him. Phineas closed his eyes as he hugged him back, hoping that he was teaching Jeffrey well enough. There were so many dangers out in the field.

Dr. Reyes knocked on the open door interrupting them. "So how'd you like to get out of here?" he said.

"Great, when?" Bogg returned.

"I'll let you go tomorrow, but you need to stick around for a few days and just take it easy, okay?"

"I won't let him on the ropes courses," Jeff said immediately.

The doctor smiled at Jeff, "you be in charge then," he said to Jeff, and then to Phineas, "come back Wednesday and I'll give you full clearance."

"Okay doc, thanks."


	17. The Ropes Courses

Chapter 17 The Ropes Courses

By the next afternoon, they were settled in a cottage on the outskirts of the Mission Control compound. Phineas had arranged for them to stay very close to the ropes courses and that was the first place they went after they'd settled in. They walked around the huge structures inside the building and Phineas explained the purpose of each one. He paused at the last area, "and this one saved your life," he said seriously.

"What? How?"

"This is what you practice diving off of so you can learn to use your omni as you're falling to your death," Bogg said seriously, but then laughed when he saw Jeff's look of horror. "Come on kid, lighten up, things are good."

Jeff looked up at the structure. "You mean you jump off this thing on purpose?" It was very high.

"Uh huh. With a harness of course."

"But how did you know you'd have to jump out the window after me?" Jeff asked, staring at him in confusion.

"I didn't, it was part of the curriculum. Being prepared for anything. Just like I'm teaching you. Pretty good eh?"

"All this time I thought it was just a reflex action when you jumped out that window."

"It was, but it's great to have had this practice as preparation let me tell you. Falling, grabbing you and pushing the omni was a lot harder than it probably looked."

Jeff paused, "I never even thought about how hard that would be."

"This was the first structure I mastered," Phineas said moving away and pointing to the smallest structure in the building.

Jeff followed him and looked at a huge wooden box, it had to be 20 feet on a side at least. There were holes of all sizes on all sides of it. Quite a few were large enough to climb through. It had lots of foot and handholds and tunnels that went deep inside it to climb through too. It looked to Jeffrey like it would be fun to climb on.

"The object is to get from here," Bogg pointed to a red spot on the floor in front of them, "to that green spot over there in the shortest time possible while touching every yellow spot on the box. It's an obstacle course and it's harder than it looks."

"Can I try?" Jeff asked excitedly.

For the next hour, Jeffrey climbed all over the structure and Phineas watched from beside it. It seemed strange to him that he wasn't trying to beat his old record. He'd spent some part of every day in this room trying to do just that when he was in school. Even after he'd started to voyage, he still came back when he was at headquarters. But he didn't really care about that any more. Now, he was more interested in watching Jeff's progress as he worked his way through the course for the third time. This was part of the Preparedness Unit too and Phineas always seemed to be thinking of new ways to teach Jeff what he would need to know to be a successful voyager.

After his third time through the box, Jeff came back to Bogg and sat down to rest. "That was great, but I don't think can do it again just now."

"We'll be here for a few days, we can come back," Phineas answered.

After a pause, Jeffrey spoke, "so you've been trying to teach me Preparedness, eh?"

"Uh huh."

"Don't you think part of that should have included the fact that you have an allergy that can kill you?" Jeffrey's voice got steadily louder until at the end he was almost shouting angrily.

Phineas nodded and responded quietly, "you're right, I just never think of it."

"Then how do you keep yourself from getting sick?" Jeff persisted.

"I guess I've just gotten in the habit of not going to certain places, or doing things in a certain way and so I avoid situations that could be dangerous."

"Until I started traveling with you."

"None of this is your fault, I told you that and I meant it."

"If you don't want me to feel guilty, you better come clean about anything else I should know!"

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, you know, any other deadly illnesses you could get?" Jeff said sarcastically.

"Isn't one enough?" Phineas answered, feeling badgered.

"Just trying to be prepared," Jeff answered, sarcastic again. "And by the way, what do you do if you ever get too near those dyes again?"

Phineas sighed, exasperated, "I'll omni to headquarters like I did this time."

Jeffrey's answer was low and soft, "what if I have the omni and we're separated?"

There was silence.

"Now that you know, it won't happen again," Bogg answered with finality and Jeff knew the discussion had ended.


	18. Rachel's Research

Chapter 18 Rachel's Research

On Wednesday, Jeff waited outside Dr. Reyes office while Bogg was examined for full clearance to voyage. He was reading the textbook to pass the time. Finally, the door opened and Bogg came out.

"You okay?" he asked immediately.

"Full clearance," Phineas said.

"Does that mean we have to leave?" Jeff asked disappointedly.

"Course, we have problems to solve," Bogg answered. "But first, Rachel invited us home so I could meet Steven, so we're having supper there tonight."

"Great!" Jeff answered. He had told both Rachel and Bogg about what Steven had said to him. He hoped that Bogg would have some magic he could work on Steven and make it so he wouldn't be bullied any more.

Rachel met them later with a huge smile on her face. "I've got great news!" she said.

"What?" Bogg and Jeff said together.

"Here's another lesson for you Jeff," Rachel began and they looked at her in confusion. "Don't make an enemy of a researcher."

"What does that mean?" Jeff asked as they all sat down.

"It means that there's a record of every transmission made here and they can all be found and assembled together if a person has enough desire. And after that false alarm so Walker could get you alone, I had the desire, and I'm a bulldog when it comes to research."

"What did you prove?" Phineas asked with a smile. He found this story very entertaining.

"That Walker contacted someone named Jenny Taylor on the control panel to cause the problem that caused another problem that caused the false alarm. They never thought anyone would track it down. And not only that, but Jenny has been directing his missions, that's how he's been getting all the experiences he needs to qualify for the teaching program." She stopped to breath, "she always sent her signals through multiple sites so she never thought she'd be caught. When she realized we'd found her out and that she could lose her job, she confessed. They're in love, if you can believe anyone could fall in love with the likes of him."

"It's always a woman," Jeff said knowingly, remembering how Jane Phillips almost kidnapped Abraham Lincoln, and Phineas chuckled.

"He wanted to teach, and she wanted him here, so they worked together," Rachel finished and sat back smiling.

"You showed all this to Trevor?" Bogg asked.

"Yep, and Walker and Jenny are in lock-up until the trial," she paused, "bet he regrets talking to me," she said with finality.

"Thanks for doing all that," Phineas said in a serious voice.

She smiled, "well, there's no way I was gonna let him try to manipulate Jeff again."

Jeff hugged her, "thanks."

"Ready to go?" she asked and pushed the omni.


	19. Bogg's Advice

Chapter 19 Bogg Meets Steven

When they landed, Bogg opened the omni, "red light," he said, "guess you two weren't kidding."

"Come on," Jeff said running ahead toward the house. Rachel and Phineas walked along after him.

"You know, I think it's great that you've made this commitment to Steven," Bogg said.

"I could say the same thing to you about Jeff," she returned.

"Is it as crazy for you as it seems for me sometimes?" Phineas asked her.

"Probably, but I can't see myself without him, so I just take things as they come."

"Yeah, me too."

Supper was good and afterwards Jeffrey and Rachel took a walk so Bogg would be alone with Steven in the house. It was an obvious set up and Steven as much as said so.

"I know why you're here," he said as he assembled a model at the kitchen table. "And I know that Jeff thinks you can solve any problem and that you're some kind of genius even though you don't like math, but there's nothing you can do to stop me from getting bullied. I'm never gonna be a ball player no matter how many times you pass me a ball," Steven finished, thinking about what Jeff had said about his dad.

"You're right," Bogg answered.

Steven looked up in surprise. He hadn't expected that answer. "Then you think it'll always be," he paused and continued softly, "like this?"

"It's too bad, but yeah. It's human nature kid. Anyone who's different is gonna be bullied. And it's worse when you're a kid. When you get older, it won't be as bad, but even so, some adults never grow up either. One thing's for sure though, you can't change what you are."

"So why did you bother to come here?" Steven asked.

"As a favor to Rachel," he said. "She helped us out a lot this week."

"What did she do?"

"She took care of Jeff while I was getting better, and then she analyzed some electrical signals for us that allowed us to catch the guy that was trying to hurt Jeffrey."

"She analyzed electrical signals?" Steven said with interest.

Phineas smiled to himself, he could tell he'd gotten the kid's interest. Technically, Rachel hadn't really analyzed electrical signals, her tools and techniques at headquarters were much more sophisticated than that, but he thought he could be forgiven for this white lie.

"Yeah, but that's not the whole reason I came here."

"Why else?"

"Because I thought I could help you."

"You just said you can't."

"I can't stop you from being different or getting bullied, but I can tell you how a man would look at it."

Steven narrowed his eyes, "how?"

"You can't play their game, either baseball or the social relationships game that goes along with it. So you've got to play your own game, play to your strengths. Figure out what your strengths are and use them to fit in if you can. Not everyone's going to be the star of the team, you know."

"That sounds a lot easier to say than to do."

"It is. I never said it would be easy. But never lose sight of the fact that in 5 short years, if you plan it right, you'll be going away to college where you'll find a lot of people like you."

Steven paused, "you wouldn't know how to build an amplifier for a loudspeaker would you?" he asked, thinking about how much the kids wanted to hear their baseball games announced overhead.

"Fraid not kid," Bogg said shaking his head as he stood up. "You'll have to find an expert for that."

"Do you think Rachel does?"

"You'll have to ask her," Bogg answered and walked out onto the porch. He sat down in a rocker and watched Jeff and Rachel walking along the side of the road on the way back from their trip to the river. Jeff was barefoot and carrying his sneakers. Suddenly he dashed out into the middle of the road and bent down. Phineas watched with interest as he picked up a box turtle that had been crossing the road. A car approached as Jeff walked to the other side and gently put it down out of harms way.

Phineas sighed contentedly. Jeff respected life, and that was one of the many reasons he'd make a great voyager some day. A lot of things had to be taught, but some of the most important ones were part of a person's innate nature. Phineas had long thought that seeing adults set good examples was the best way to reinforce those natural tendencies. He had seen what can happen to good kids who don't have those examples to follow. As he had so many times before, Phineas silently thanked Jeff's parents for producing this wonderful kid. He was determined to try to set good examples for him too, at least he'd do the best he could.

"How'd it go?" Rachel asked as they stepped onto the porch. Phineas pulled the omni off his belt with confidence. He hadn't needed to look at it before to know it was green. Nudging Steven in the right direction had felt so right to him. He opened it so they could see the green light, "piece of cake," he answered.


	20. Landing Apart

Chapter 20 Landing Apart

The next day, after saying their good-byes, they walked up the road toward the center of town, and stopped out of sight so Jeff could push the omni.

It was dusk when Jeff landed on a dirt road alone. He stood up, "Bogg?" he called out anxiously. He listened worriedly and heard loud angry voices. He walked to a nearby fence and peered through it. No wonder Bogg hadn't answered, he was standing between a young black boy and four tall, muscular, white thugs. One of them held a rope with a noose at the end. It looked like Bogg had landed on the other side of this fence, right in the middle of a lynching.

"Back off," Phineas ordered as he stood his ground in front of the boy. He scanned the area and spotted a long 2x4 lying on the ground off to his left. But the men just laughed. "Run kid!" Phineas yelled as he bent to pick up the wood. Immediately he started jabbing it at the man closest to the boy. In anger, the man turned away from the kid and lunged toward Phineas. Jeff could see the boy start to run, but by this time there was no need for speed, the men were focused on Phineas.

The fight was fast and furious, but as Jeff watched, he realized that even Bogg couldn't beat 4 grown men in a fight. He started climbing the fence, determined to help.

"Off the cliff!" one of the thugs called to the other who was still standing up, and Jeff could see as he climbed higher, that they were very close to a canyon and the drop off was steep. It would probably kill Bogg if he were pushed off that cliff. The two men pushed Phineas toward the edge but he moved sideways and tackled the larger of the two from the side, pushing them both away from the edge. He saw Jeff on top of the fence, out of the corner of his eye.

"Bogg, behind you!" Jeff yelled as he watched one of the men who had been on the ground, stand and grab another 2x4. Phineas turned, but realized the danger too late. The end of the 2x4 landed hard on the right side of his chest and he stepped back, the breath knocked out of him, before losing his balance.

When Bogg stepped back, Jeff pulled the omni off his belt and twisted the dials almost without thinking. As he watched in horror, Bogg began to fall backwards off the edge of the cliff.

Suddenly, in one smooth movement, as though he had planned on it all along, he fingered the omni like a fastball, the button on the top out in front so that it would be pushed in on impact. He threw it from his perch on the top of the fence with skills honed in little league and hours and hours of practice in the back yard with his dad. He aimed for the center of Bogg's body, but he was falling and Jeff hadn't appreciated how fast he was falling. As it sailed through the air, he thought it would miss its mark. But his heart leaped as he heard a thud where it made contact with Bogg's upper arm. In that same instant, Bogg and the omni both disappeared.

_Author's Note: There are a few phrases or sentences in this story that came into my mind as I thought about the action, before I even wrote anything. Also, just like Jeff, I had been trying to figure out how Jeff could rescue Bogg if Jeff had the omni and they were separated. Once I figured it out, these phrases leaped into existance and sat in the wings, ready to be used at an appropriate time, "as though he had planned it all along, he fingered the omni like a fastball" and also the words "with skills honed in Little League and hours and hours of practice in the backyard with his dad". I don't know why I fell in love with this phrasing, but I did._

_ Another sentence (at the end of an earlier chapter) that I wrote early and just waited for it to fit was "Jeffrey knew what had happened and he knew whose fault it was." There's another example of a phrase written very early on, coming up in one of the final chapters._


	21. Chasing Jeffrey

Chapter 21 Chasing Jeff

Bogg's assailants stood in shock, until one of them looked at Jeffrey and grunted, "get him." Jeff jumped back down to where he'd first landed and turned and ran as fast as he could, across the road and into the woods. He ran blindly, in a panic, sure those men would hunt him down and kill him. He stumbled, caught himself, and kept running, aware of a pain in his arm, but also that the threat chasing him was much more serious. He ran through the woods until it was pitch dark and he couldn't see even his hand in front of his face because there was no moon at all. Then, suddenly he stopped and lay down on his side, too exhausted to think. He listened intently and tried to make his breathing be as quiet as possible. There was silence all around him, maybe they had given up the chase.

He lay still, and as he calmed down, he thought about his situation. Bogg would be back, and he'd be looking for him, Jeff was sure of it. But he was nowhere near the spot the omni had put them down. That would be where Bogg would start his search, and Jeff had to get back there. But where was it? He'd run so far, and he'd been in a panic. He wasn't sure he could find that place again. Where would Bogg look if he wasn't there? All of a sudden, he knew that he had to try to find water. In the morning he would listen and search for running water, and he'd leave signs for Bogg to find.

His arm hurt and he put his hand over the injured area and held it still. It was moist and sticky but it was too dark to see how much blood there actually was. He sighed, resigned to the idea of a long, dark, chilly night alone, but comforted by the thought that Bogg would be doing his best to find him.

He wasn't sure how he'd decided to pitch the omni at Bogg, but at the time it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world. He'd been trying, off and on, to imagine what he'd do if he had the omni and Bogg had fallen off the cliff at the edge of that waterfall a week or so ago. He'd thought he hadn't come up with a solution, but now he realized his brain must have been working on it all along. The solution to that problem had obviously been rattling around inside his brain and had taken hold even without any conscious thought. It was definitely a good game, but even though he'd found a way to help Bogg, he now had to face the reality that although he'd sent Bogg back to headquarters, Bogg didn't know where he was and Jeff had no way to communicate with him. He didn't even know for sure if Bogg was okay, he'd been hit pretty hard with the butt end of that 2x4.

"Please be okay Bogg, I need you" he whispered.

_Author's Note: Again, this is one of the sentences I wrote before I wrote the story, "He wasn't sure how he'd decided to pitch the omni at Bogg, but at the time it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world."_


	22. Rescue

Chapter 22 Rescue

Phineas landed at headquarters and the omni clattered to the floor beside him. He coughed and rolled over, clutching his chest as Trevor Dillon knelt beside him.

"Call a medical team," Dillon ordered.

"Gotta go back," Phineas gasped as he sat up.

"We'll get a fix on him while you get treated," Dillon said picking up the omni and sliding it into a small machine on his belt.

"Jeff's still there," he said as he stood up and then doubled over, his hand on the side of his chest. Two medical workers moved next to him, taking Dillon's place.

"I know, we'll get him out," Dillon said calmly, but he was working very fast, and that made Phineas feel better.

"Broken rib on the right side," one of the medics announced.

Bogg straightened up slowly and started toward Dillon, "when can we leave."

"You belong in medical Phineas," he said, watching him closely.

"Not till I get Jeffrey."

"I can't allow..."

"It doesn't matter, he's my son, I'm going back as soon as you can get me there," Bogg said evenly, looking Dillon in the eye. "I have to," he whispered.

Dillon pursed his lips together and decided not to argue. "We'll both go," was his surprising answer.

They landed where the omni had put Phineas and Jeff originally. The area was deserted.

Jeff was up there," Bogg said, pointing to the top of the fence. If they chased him, he would've run that way. Again he pointed beyond the fence.

"We won't be able to get very far in the dark," Dillon began.

"We can still see a little," Phineas replied as he walked to the fence and struggled to climb over it. Dillon could see he was in pain, but remained silent and followed his lead.

They walked across the road and into the woods, Phineas was sure that Jeff would head for the woods and not up the road. He'd run to where there was cover if he were being chased. And Phineas assumed he would have been chased. He closed his eyes, not wanting to imagine those thugs attacking Jeff. They'd been willing to lynch that other kid, and push him off a cliff. He shook his head and concentrated on where the underbrush had been trampled down by something.

They didn't get very far before even Phineas realized they had to stop because it was so dark. He called out for Jeff, but there was no answer. He sat down dejectedly and held the side of his chest as he leaned against a tree to wait until morning. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and before long a cold rain began to fall. All Phineas could thing as he held firm pressure against the right side of his chest was that Jeffrey would be cold and alone.

Jeff was curled up, in the dark, at the base of a large tree. He cradled his right arm with his left and sighed. He missed Bogg so much. He knew that Bogg would be trying to find him, so he tried to hold onto that thought. When the rain started, he was glad he was under a tree with thick foliage, but through the night it rained quite hard, so that by morning, he was soaking wet and very cold anyway.

As soon as the sun shed the tiniest bit of light, he searched for sticks and stones he could use to make arrows to mark where he was going. Then he stood up and listened as intently as he could, but he didn't hear anything that sounded like water.

He knew there should be water here somewhere. It had been a small canyon, but still, canyons often had rivers in them. He thought about where the sun had been last evening when they landed. They'd been on the west side of the canyon, so he should try to go east to find a river. With that in mind, he headed into the sunrise.

Sure enough, as he walked he began to hear a rushing sound, very similar to the one Bogg had made him listen to about two weeks ago. Excitedly he quickened his pace, and soon he reached a river with rapids. He knelt beside the fast moving water and scooped some up into his hand for a drink.

Should he travel downstream, like Bogg had taught him, or stay here? If Bogg tried to follow him through the woods, he'd come out upstream. If Bogg decided to follow the rim of the canyon in the upstream direction, he'd eventually get to where Jeff was now.

Jeff sat down thinking. He figured Bogg would try tracking him through the woods, and if he lost the trail, he'd aim for the river. He decided to stay put, there was water he could get at here and downstream the canyon got much deeper. Water was the most important thing to have. Hunger wouldn't kill him in the short term, but thirst might. He would put markers around this spot so that Bogg could find him from any direction.

Once that decision was made, he looked around for shelter and settled on a spot between two rocks. He put the sticks down in the shape of an arrow, pointing to that place from the river's edge. Then he began traveling back into the woods along several paths he found, and both upstream and downstream laying out rocks and sticks as arrows, pointing the way. He headed back to his "shelter" when he finished. The wind had picked up and because he was soaking wet, it made him feel very cold. He squeezed in between the rocks and curled up to try to keep warm. He was proud of what he'd done and realized he had both his fathers to thank for teaching him so much. Because, he was certain that if his first father hadn't taught him to throw so well, Bogg might not be alive to follow these signs.

As he perceived the first light of a new day, Phineas stood up, "let's go," he said and started along the path they'd been following. The previous night's rain had washed away some topsoil on the trail and the mud made it difficult to walk. When the sun had risen fully, Phineas stopped on the trail.

"I can't track him after all that rain," he admitted to Dillon.

"Maybe we should head back to the landing site and wait," Dillon suggested.

Phineas paused, shielding his eyes from the sun. "I think he'd go east, to find water," he said finally.

"Why east?"

"Because we were on the west side of the canyon, and there was a river at the bottom of it."

"You think he'd figure that out?"

"Yeah," and Phineas was sure that Jeff would take the time to reason it out. "If we can't find him there, we'll head back to the landing site."

They walked into the sun for what seemed to Phineas like an eternity, until finally he heard the roar of moving water.

"What now?" Dillon asked as they approached the river.

"We look for signs," Phineas answered.

Dillon hoped Phineas was right about the kid, but privately he thought it was a bit too much to expect him to leave signs. "Have you taught him about signs?"

"I teach him something every day Trevor, I just hope he remembered."

They moved along the river bank together until Dillon saw Bogg squat down and stare at the ground. As he knelt beside him, he saw him smiling and looked at the spot on the ground in front of him. Eight stones were lined up into an arrow shape, pointing the way they were walking. "Well, I'll be," Dillon whispered.

Bogg stood up and walked as quickly as his broken rib would let him, along the river's edge. "Jeff?" he called out every minute or so. As Dillon followed, he saw Jeffrey step out from behind a huge rock and run to Bogg.

"Dad!" Jeff called throwing his arms around him, "you're okay?" Jeff said burying his face in Bogg's shoulder.

"I'm okay," Phineas answered as he held Jeff close, "now that I found you." He put Jeff down, and put his hand gently on the side of his head, "how about you? Are you okay?"

"I guess I hurt my arm, I haven't really looked at it, it bled a little," Jeff said.

Trevor Dillon smiled at their reunion, then spoke, "okay, both of you need to be seen in the medical unit, so take hold," he said so sternly that he didn't need to say it was an order.

"Well, you're gonna need a few stitches Jeff," Dr. Reyes told him an hour later as he lay on the examination table in the medical unit at headquarters covered in blankets.

Jeff was silent for a moment. "Can I talk to my dad, alone?" he asked.

Reyes glanced at Bogg, who sat on a stool beside the table, despite orders to lay down.

"Sure, I'll go get some supplies," Reyes answered.

"What is it?" Bogg asked after the doctor left.

"I've never had stitches before," Jeff admitted, and Phineas heard a little touch of fear in his voice.

He reached out and took Jeff's hand. "I'll be here the whole time, it'll hurt a little at first, until they put in medicine to make the pain go away," he said. "It's gonna be okay."

Dr. Reyes returned as Phineas paused. When it looked like the doctor was ready to start, Phineas continued, "and when this is over, I'll show you my bruise."

"On your chest?" Jeff asked.

"A little pinch," Reyes said and Jeff winced and grabbed tightly onto Phineas' hand as a local anesthetic was injected into the cut.

"No, my arm," Bogg answered.

"What happened to your arm?" Jeff asked, distracted.

"Your fastball, that's what."

"Sorry about that, I threw it as hard as I could," Jeff said and half smiled even though his arm still hurt. "And I put it right where I wanted it to go."

"You sure did, and don't be sorry, you saved my life with it," Phineas said seriously.


	23. Fathers and Sons

Chapter 23 Fathers and Sons

Two days later, Phineas was napping on the couch in their cottage. He opened his eyes sleepily and stared out into the room. Jeffrey was sitting at the kitchen table, his arm in a sling. He was reading the directions for a model Rachel had given him as a thank you for asking Phineas to talk to Steven. After the talk, Steven had decided to tackle the project of building an amplifier for the loudspeaker system at the Little League Field and had really enjoyed putting his hobby to practical use. Rachel had told them that he was still an outsider at school, but he seemed happier.

As Phineas watched Jeffrey concentrate on the directions, he realized that Jeff had spread a blanket over him some time after he'd fallen asleep. It reminded him of Jeffrey moving that turtle out of the road. It was just a nice thing to do. Where did a kid learn things like this he wondered, and unbidden, his previous musings came to mind. First, from being born basically good. Second, from observations of others, mostly parents that reinforced that goodness.

He thought of several times when he had covered Jeffrey over and put him to bed when he'd been exhausted or upset. One of the first times he'd ever touched Jeff was to cover him with his coat. Could Jeff possibly have learned this from him? Part of him couldn't believe that his actions could have had much of an impact, but another part, deep in his core, hoped that they had.

He still felt unprepared to have a son, but this was how his life had unfolded and he wouldn't trade any of it. He thought about Jeff's real father. He had taught Jeffrey so much, Phineas had never really thought about it but he supposed that was what fathers did. They taught their sons everything they could, the best they could, so they would be as prepared as possible for whatever life gave them. He realized he'd been trying to do just that with Jeffrey, and as he lay there, he felt closer than ever before to Jeff's father.

But where did you start, he wondered to himself? There wasn't much you could teach an infant, or a two-year old, except that you loved them. He was glad he got to start with an 11-year old, then he corrected his thinking, with THIS 11-year old. And he was very glad that Jeffrey's dad had spent so much time with him, teaching him to throw a fastball so accurately. It seemed strange to say that pitching that omni had saved his life, but it had.

"Hey," he said to get Jeff's attention. He winced as he sat up, his rib still bothered him quite a bit. "Thanks for the blanket."

Jeff got up and walked over and gave him a hug. "I didn't want you to be cold, we had enough cold in that rain," he explained, and Phineas could still feel the cold rain that had poured down during that long night in the woods.

"You're right about that," Phineas answered, in a soft voice. Talking loud was more painful.

Jeffrey looked at him worriedly, "can I get you anything?" he asked.

"No, but it's nice to have you ask," Phineas answered, again in a soft voice.

"That's what sons do for their fathers," Jeff told him.

The End

_Author's Note: I purposefully wrote the first and last chapters of this story to be very similar, kind of like bookends. In the first, Phineas covers Jeff over when he falls asleep, and in this one, Jeff covers Phineas. In both they say "hey" when they wake up to get the other's attention. In the first, Jeff thinks about his father playing baseball with him ("it was a good memory but it still hurt" is another one of those phrases I wrote before I wrote the story itself). In this chapter Phineas thinks about how Jeff's dad taught him how to throw a baseball. _

_I thought I needed to do this to pull the begining and end together to make the theme of fathers and sons into a cohesive whole. It is totally coincidental that I'm finishing this story 2 days before Father's Day. Thank you to anyone who has been reading, without the readers, authors wouldn't put their stories on line._


End file.
